Sfraga Sfings Afgain!

Though hardly a household name along the lines of Julie London or The Manhattan Transfer, this New York singer Barbara Sfraga is how do the kids say it somethin’ else. But Not For Her are the codependent "my man’s a real creep but, gosh, I’m glad he’s mine" clichés that have historically defined/plagued female jazz singers since the advent of the record. This lady blazes her own path. On her thus-far lone CD Oh What A Thrill (Naxos Jazz) she reinvents Jerry Lee Lewis' "Great Balls Of Fire" as a sultry-yet-apocalyptic torch song, and she tackles songs by writers as disparate as Gil Scott-Heron, Angela Bofill, Bob Dylan and Lerner & Lowe. Her supple, womanly tones (no little-girl-lost jive here) express focused commitment to The Song, never losing sight of a the lyrics and their possibilities. Ms. Sfraga wails with her band as an equal participant, all the while conveying Betty Carter sophistication, Sheila Jordan gentle, wistful insouciance, Joni Mitchell suppleness, Janis Joplin bodacious and Anita O’Day’s voice-as-instrumentality. She melds the standard "Angel Eyes" and Cream's "Sunshine Of Your Love" into a sumptuous thrill-ride, taking the songs and the listener to parts of town you thought you’d never seen before. And now she’s on her way to my new hometown of Chicago if you're in the vicinity, see below for the coordinates on catching Sfraga do her thing in a natural (that’s to say, live) setting.